Organic Chemistry. By M. Jones, Jr.

This text is without doubt one of the easiest to read I have ever encountered. The first two chapters deal in detail with bonding aspects of organic molecules including Lewis dot structures. Chapters 3-6 discuss the functional groups and stereochemistry.

Reaction mechanisms, such as S_N2, S_N1, E2 and E1, are presented in detail in chapter 7. This is one of the major chapter that also acts as a reference point for many other chapters. Several relevant analogies are made back to this chapter throughout the text. A brief introduction to equilibrium is included in chapter 8 while chapters 9 and 10 look at addition reactions of double and triple bond.

The second half of the book provides a strong foundation for the chemistry of carbonyl compounds (chapters 16, 18-20). Chapter 17 provides a revision of alcohols, ethers and other related compounds discussed in the earlier part of the text. Physical and biological aspects of organic chemistry are discussed in the remaining five chapters (chapter 22-26).

The author has extensively used figures and schemes with good use of color graphics to highlight the change in chemical reactions. Cross reference throughout the book is used often and efficiently. At the end of each chapter, there are problems of various difficulties, key terms with explanations and a summary of the important concepts, reaction mechanisms and synthetic procedures.

This text provides an accurate and up-to-date view of organic chemistry.

An appendix giving short answers to some of the problems in text would have been useful.